Although I've probably told anyone who would listen to me about everything I've done in the interim I'm going to write about it anyway. Mostly cause I have some nice pictures!
So the weekend after the adventure in the Bosque, I visited Miss Mari-Jane Paterson in her little pueblo of La Granada (not Granada - that's in Andalucia) an hour outside of Barcelona. I managed to find incredibly cheap flights from Oviedo to Barcelona - although as SpainAir has just gone bust I can see that being my last trip! La Granada was straight out of a guide book, gorgeous cream coloured houses and little shops. We had a walk around on my last day and went to mass in the Church - which incidentally starts at 11am not half 11 as we thought, slightly awkward.
On the Saturday we went to Barcelona and shopped! We also took the open top bus tour so we could see as much as humanly possible without loosing our legs.
The last time I went to Barcelona this was closed because the wind was too strong!
Vamos Barca!
Just don't tell half of my students!!
Barcelona, as a cosmopolitan city, just happens to have a Starbucks on every corner and so I FINALLY got my Starbucks. It had been over 8 weeks coming! But, alas, in Spain they do not have gingerbread lattes at Christmas and so I had to settle for vanilla - first world problem.
One day in Barcelona was never going to be enough so I'm desperate to go back! Luckily MJP is an awesome hostess and looked after me very well.The Barcelona trip was at the beginning of Puente week - wherein we had Monday, Tuesday and Thursday off school because of various holidays, plus I don't work Fridays. That's right, I had a ONE DAY WEEK! You have got to love the Spanish obsession with fiestas.
The second weekend, with another cheap deal, I went to Leon with the chicas from Oviedo for a night. Leon is about two hours to the south of Oviedo and is therefore, much colder!! Leon is famous for tapas, with every drink comes a free tapas; which could be a little bit of bread and tortilla or a tiny hamburger or cheesy croquettes. All in all, a night in Leon can be very, very cheap! The night we visited was also El Clasico, I was allowed to watch the first half in the flat before leaving and luckily our first tapas bar was a Barca bar and had a TV! The second was unfortunately a Real supporting bar, although by that point they were 2-0 down and the barman had ripped his flag down from above the bar in disgust.
Funniest. Sight. Ever.
Plaza Mayor
Now, we've been told several times that it is odd for a blonde girl to be in Spain, that we might get stared at a bit. Until I went to Leon, all I had experienced was the old ladies at my choir exclaiming at how light my hair was and my students saying I had very "Scottish" hair (the ginger comments are getting old now.)
In Leon, everything was different. To be fair, there were four blondes now - and Alwyn - and walking down the streets we heard "Rubias, rubias!" from everywhere, apparently this is normal in Leon...
Yes I know; me + large "L" = not good.
But to be fair, I'm not standing on it this time...
The Cathedral in Leon was unbelievable! I wish I could have taken pictures inside but apart from it not being allowed it was incredibly dark inside. The stained glass windows were the most beautiful I have ever seen. It was freezing inside, its so big there's no hope of it warming up when it's only 2/3 degrees outside. While we were walking around a Mass was being sung but I couldn't find it! Which just made the music even more amazing, you could hear it from every corner of the Cathedral but no one seemed to know where it was coming from. Frankie and I also went all the way to the top of the ramparts outside - just to be told that we weren't actually allowed to do that - oops!
And that was the beginning of December in Spain.
Now I'm back in Oviedo after a lovely two weeks at home and four days in Paris! Up till now either the weather or hangovers have been against us so trips haven't been possible. But this weekend, hopefully we're off to Leon once more for a proper explore and another try of the tapas!
